Chapter Text
It has officially been a full month since Peter experienced his first day as a junior.
At first, he has been kinda anxious about it.
After all, it was only normal. He was puny Parker, the uninteresting student, the school's nerd AND he got to skip a grade. It was only going to add to his already punchable status.
He was pretty sure that it would only make matters worse for him, but surprisingly it didn't. Well, not really.
It wasn't really worse than what he was already going through.
The bullies, the insults and the hits were still here, yes, but after a while he just got used to it. He was getting more numb to it each time it happened.l
And it wasn't as if he was alone, anymore. He finally got a friend, a girl who was in his art class.
It turned out that she was surprisingly good at it and Peter really enjoyed her company. She seemed to feel the same way about him.
Painting, drawings, sketches, she nailed it all.
They started hanging out together a week after the start of school. The art teacher wanted each student to create a superhero character that would represent their sense of justice in a unique way. Peter didn't really got what it was all about, but decided to try the exercise nonetheless.
This was however without taking into accounts that Peter really sucked at art.
Pencils, brushes, paint, it wasn't his stuff. No! His stuff was books, mathematics, science but definitely not art.
After a few attempts at drawing a weird half-spider half-man superhero, Peter was so close to surrender but Tima approached him right on time and, as the kind and generous person she is, decided to help him a little bit. She probably was only feeling pity for him and his terrible ability to draw, but Peter was so grateful for the help that he didn't even care.
She taught him the basics, how to draw a full body, which colours looked best together, how to make a practical sketch. She also helped him with the characteristics of his character, guided him in the right directions.
Peter ended up making a persona called Spiderman, choosing that it sounded better than "BugBoy", which Tima suggested.
Spideman was righteous. A moral compass, always putting people before himself. He was both an inspiration and a symbol for citizens.
His outfit was blue and red with big white eys on his mask that made him look a bit angry. The whole costume was covered by a spider's web design, ornamented by a big black spider on his chest.
The result ended up looking better than what Peter had originally thought and he was feeling kinda happy about it.
Out of curiosity Peter asked to see Tima's character, he didn't regret asking. Her concept was, to say the least, quite unique.
The character she created was a very morally grey person, acting as the lawyer, judge and executioner. She physically looked like Tima, they were both chubby, had glasses and had tan skin, almost caramel looking.
Her costume consisted of a black and blue armless hoodie pulled on top of a black turtle neck. She wore a ski mask and a weird looking mask to hide the lower half of her face. Her outfit was embellished by many pouches, in particular two that were strapped to her tights, and some shoes with very pointed studs on the soles.
She laughed when Peter pointed out how uncomfortable it must be to walk with those.
They were surprised at how quick they both got along and immediately started hanging out together afterwards.
They would sit next to each other in art classes, eat together at the cafeteria, or outside depending on their moods, and sometimes they even played at each other's house after school.
Peter was relieved for this newfound friendship because after Gwen's death and Harry's departure to England, he was starting to feel so alone. Gwen and Harry were his only friends and now they were both gone.
Harry still called or send him some messages, but it wasn't the same. He wasn't physically here with Peter.
Even when Peter got to talk to him on the phone Harry sometimes seemed to be somewhere else, mentally.
But now he wasn't alone anymore. He had a friend with who he shared plenty of things, even the bullying!
Though it wasn't exactly the same. Tima sometimes got called names because of her weight but she fought back. Most of the the time the bullies were the one being ridiculed at the end. She just didn't give a shit about such people and wasn't afraid to show it.
It made Peter immensely proud. Proud to have a friend that was able to do what he couldn't bring himself to do. Fight back.
He got tougher, though. He wouldn't shake as badly as he used to when Flash and his friends decided to bother him. He didn't lower his gaze either and he was proud of him for standing up against them in his own way.
With these thoughts in mind, Peter finally got out of his bed. He usually woke up a bit before his alarm and today was no exception, so he deactivated his phone's alarm and made his way to the bathroom.
He took a quick shower, brushed his teeth and tried to tame what he referenced to as his 'hair', but to no avail, so he grabbed his backpack and went downstairs.
There was Aunt May quietly making breakfast.
Peter didn't even have to look to know that Aunt May was making pancakes. The smell was a pretty big giveaway.
He quietly and quickly sneaked behind her and kissed her cheek.
" Good morning Aunt May. " He smiled.
She didn't even flinch at Peter's presence. She turned around and greeted him with a smile that could put the sun to shame. Aunt May always looked at Peter as if he was the most important thing in her world. Which was probably the case.
It made him as happy as it made him terribly afraid to ever disappoint her.
" Good morning, Peter. Did you sleep well? "
" Yeah, I did. I spent most of my night studying for my oncoming history's test, so when I decided to call it a night I fell asleep almost instantly. I might have drooled a bit."
She giggled at that.
" What about you? "
" You know I always sleep well, Peter. " She laughed.
" True, true, but better be safe than sorry." He said. He didn't want to remind her about those sleepless nights she had after Uncle Ben's death.
May placed a few pancakes in Peter's plate and they both ate in a comfortable silence. The brunette loved not feeling the pressure to talk, to fill the silence.
After breakfast Peter made another quick trip to the bathroom in hope to at least make his hair a bit more presentable, but failed for the second time this morning.
He decided that it just wasn't worth getting late to school anyway and got out of the house after placing another kiss on May's cheek.
The trip to highschool was pretty uneventful except for a few persons he found murmuring in front of the entry.
Thinking nothing of it he made his way past the students, into the building and got surprised to see that the whispering was even more worse inside the school.
As he was about to go around a hallway someone grabbed his arm rather forcefully. His vision landed on a his friend, smiling way too much at this hour for his taste.
" Hey Parker. " Tima smiled.
" Hey, was that really necessary? You almost scared me. Jerk. " he playfully glared at his friend. The ghost of a smile showing on his face.
" Haha, sorry! I just wanted to greet you before going to class. You know I can't live without you. " She said while putting her hand on his shoulder.
" Yeah, I think I noticed that and this is getting quite disturbing. As long as your don't start digging into my trash bin." She laughed. " Maybe I do. What do you know, Peter Snow?" " Okay, that was just awful. Anyway, not that I don't love talking about our questionable friendship but do you know what this is all about? " He pointed to a few people whispering.
" Hmm, from what I've heard it's all about a guy. " She responded, a finger on her chin.
" A guy? All of that for a single guy? What is up with him? " Peter said. He looked adorably confused.
" No idea. I don't really care, actually. I didn't get time to get breakfast so my mind is already too busy thinking about food to get curious about that. " She put one hand on her stomach and made a pained expression to prove her point.
But if you are that curious I can ask. "
" What? No—" Just as Peter was about to tell her not to do it, she went straight to a group of teenagers whispering next to the lockers.
Peter didn't move from his spot, afraid to ridicule himself in front of what he assumed were seniors. He instead chose to wait for his friend, curious about this whole thing.
When she came back she didn't say a word and they both walked down the hallway until Peter opened his mouth.
" So? " He asked.
" So? " She repeated, tilting her head.
" What did they say? " He was patient. He was used to her being easily distracted, though it could be a bit frustrating at times.
" Oh, right!
It seems like this guy that used to be here a year ago is coming back. "
" Oh. He must have been quite popular to make everyone react like that.
Did they tell you his name?"
" Yep, I think it was Dave... Wayne... No! Wade Wilson! " She exclaimed proudly.
" Oh. " Peter simply responded.
" What's up, Peter? Is everything alright? " Her hand found its way back to his shoulder.
Peter looked at her and noticed that they had somehow stopped walking.
" Yeah, it's just that...
I know Wade Wilson. "